


Anything You Can Do

by centreoftheselights



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: A Cappella, Competition, F/F, Femslash February 2016, First Kiss, Hate to Love, Implied Masturbation, Making Out, Pre-Canon, Rivalry, Rivals to Lovers, Singing, The Riff-Off, Underage Drinking, minor body shaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 08:29:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6187465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloe and Aubrey are two of the Bella's newest recruits. But when Chloe decides to take the overachiever down a peg, she winds up getting more than she bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anything You Can Do

**Author's Note:**

> A late addition to my [Femslash February prompt fills](http://centrumlumina.tumblr.com/post/138495106946/femslash-february-prompts)! Prompt: Rivals to Lovers.
> 
> Prompted by doubleohtripleseven.

“… Welcome to the Barden Bellas!”

Chloe shrieked with joy and hugged her fellow alto recruit.

“Oh my gosh, I can't believe we got in!”

“I know, right?” Anna replied, her broad smile bright in the light of a hundred candles. “I'm a senior, I didn't think I'd ever get in, but then they finally had some slots for altos...”

“I was so disappointed they weren't auditioning last year!” Chloe agreed. “I guess there must have been a lot of people who graduated?”

“Yeah, we've got some big shoes to fill,” Anna said. “So, what made you decide to try out?”

“Oh, I just love singing, you know? So I thought I'd give it a try...”

Another of their fellow recruits approached – the only girl to be allowed into the mezzos this year. Aubrey. (Chloe had made sure to remember everyone's names.)

Something about her knocked Chloe off balance, and it took her a moment to place what was off. Where every other girl was beaming from ear to ear and squealing their excitement loudly, Aubrey was quiet and subdued, with only the tilt of her chin and a slight curve of her lips betraying her pride at being invited into this most exclusive of sisterhoods.

“I've been singing since I was three years old,” she declared. “I've always known I was destined to be an acappella soloist. It's just a shame there wasn't space for me to join when I was a freshman.”

“You're a sophomore?” Chloe asked, trying not to let her smile slip at the girl's snobbish tone. “Me too.”

Anna gaped at them. “Wow. You must both have amazing voices. This is my _third_ round of auditions.”

“And you made it in eventually, didn't you?” Aubrey's enthusiasm rang false, and more than a little patronising. “I'm sure we'll all have lots of fun competing together.”

She strode off before either of them had a chance to reply, heading towards the cluster of more experienced members at the front of the room.

“Rude,” Chloe said in the direction of Aubrey's retreating back.

“She's probably just stressed out from being 'kidnapped',” Anna said. “I screamed so loud when they put the bag over my head...”

Chloe nodded along to Anna's story, but her bright mood had turned sour.

So, Aubrey thought she was all that? Well, wait until she heard Chloe sing.

 

The next day, their first rehearsal with the Bellas was bright and early in the morning. After all the partying the night before, some of the choir members looked a little worse for wear. Chloe had had the foresight to stay hydrated, so she was doing a little better, but she still had a pulsing headache as the choir leader asked them to line up.

Falling into her spot next to Chloe, Aubrey was wide-eyed and smiling. Chloe strongly suspected she had ducked out of the party early to ensure she got enough sleep.

“Hello ladies!” Beside Chloe, Anna winced at the volume. “Welcome to Bella Boot Camp. You have one week to get up to standard, or we _will_ replace you. Remember, there are dozens of eager girls who would kill to be where you are now. Alright, let's begin!”

They ran through the Bellas' warm-ups and breathing exercises - “Learn them now, I _won't_ tell you again!” - and then were set their first challenge.

“Okay everyone, high C!”

They all sang the note. It was a little high for Chloe's range, but she was determined not to wobble.

“Now,” said the leader with an evil smile. “Hold it as long as you can.”

She looked up and down the line of girls, glancing occasionally to her watch. Chloe could feel her heart pounding in her chest, but she was determined to hold out. She'd always had excellent breath control.

“Twenty seconds!”

A couple of the sopranos jumped when the leader barked the time. It was only a few seconds after that when Anna's note finally petered out. Chloe could feel the ache in her lungs, but she was a long way from done.

By the time the leader called thirty seconds, there were only two voices left in the room: Chloe's and Aubrey's. Chloe's lungs were starting to burn, and her throat ached from the high note, but she didn't care. She was determined to win.

She sneaked a glance to the side to see how Aubrey was doing, and was satisfied to see that she was turning red. Surely she couldn't hold out much longer -

Panting, Aubrey finally cut off. Chloe forced out the note for a couple more seconds, just long enough to rub it in, before stopping herself to take a much-needed breath.

“Now that's the Bella spirit!” the leader praised her. “It's about standards, ladies. If you aren't the best, you aren't a Bella!”

Aubrey was glaring at Chloe. If looks could kill, Chloe would be dead on the floor – but they couldn't, so instead she was glowing with righteous fuck-you-ery.

At least, until they got onto the next item on the agenda.

“Bellas don't just _sound_ the best, we _look_ the best. You!” The leader pointed at Anna. “How often do you work out?”

“Uh, every week?”

The leader smiled, showing her teeth. “And do you think that's enough?”

“… No?”

“No, it's not!”

Anna wilted under the leader's gaze, and she moved on to Chloe.

“How about you?” she demanded. She looked Chloe slowly up and down in a way that made her regret every doughnut she'd ever eaten in her life.

“Two or three times a week,” she answered, managing at least not to stutter.

“Huh…” The leader turned to Aubrey. “You?”

“Every day,” Aubrey answered promptly. “Cardio and yoga.”

The leader looked back to Chloe pointedly.

“And do you find it difficult to exercise daily?” she asked Aubrey.

“Not at all,” Aubrey answered with a perky smile.

“No, it's not difficult,” the leader said. “Which is why every single one of you _will_ start a daily exercise routine, starting _today_!”

Aubrey beamed with pride as the leader began extolling the benefits of daily cardio, while a fire started burning in Chloe's stomach. She didn't care about impressing the Bellas any more. She was going to beat Aubrey if it was the last thing she did.

 

Over the next few rehearsals, it became very clear to everyone that Chloe and Aubrey were in direct competition with each other. The two of them were the youngest in the choir, and the most talented of the new recruits. Whenever there was a challenge – choreography to learn, harmonies to nail, dress sizes to drop – they were the first and the best.

But try as she might, Chloe couldn't beat Aubrey. It seemed like they were neck-and-neck at absolutely everything.

The other girls mostly ignored the rivalry, although some were clearly more comfortable with it than others. The choir leader was happy to encourage them to “hone their competitive edge,” but Anna didn't seem so happy.

“You're both Bellas,” she said to Chloe at the end of Boot Camp. “Can't you just be nice to each other?”

“I'm nice!” Chloe protested. “I'm nice to everyone. But I'm _not_ going to let her walk all over me.”

 

A couple of weeks later, Chloe ran into Aubrey while jogging.

She had reached the bench where she normally stopped for a break and a drink of water, but when she rounded the final corner she saw Aubrey already sat there, in her jogging gear, gulping from a water bottle.

A part of her wanted to run straight past without stopping, but her thighs were burning with effort, and she decided on a split second that this wasn't worth wearing herself out over. After all, it wasn't like Aubrey had _beaten_ her just because they both had to stop at the same place – and if she collapsed further round the route and Aubrey overtook her, that would be much, much worse.

So Chloe sat on the bench beside Aubrey, trying not to let her exhaustion show even though she was breathing heavily. Then she smiled at the girl she loathed and said:

“Cardio, huh?”

Aubrey ignored her. After a few seconds she got to her feet and stretched, as though she was getting ready to leave – but she seemed to think better of it, and turned back to Chloe with her hands on her hips.

“You know,” she said. “I'm _good_ at what I do. You're not going to beat me.”

Chloe flashed her sweetest smile.

“I'm not going to let you beat me either,” she responded.

Aubrey's eyes went wide and she smiled in a very blank, robotic, slightly scary way.

“ _What_ is your _damage_?” she demanded.

Chloe got to her feet, in spite of her aching legs, stepping close to Aubrey.

“I am just as good as you are,” she said. “And I am going to prove, in front of everyone, that I can do _everything_ that you can do.”

Aubrey's mouth dropped open in shock, but before she could respond Chloe pushed past her and started running. Fuelled by spite, she found a new energy, waiting every second for Aubrey to try and overtake her – but she never appeared. Chloe made it back to her room in record time.

Chloe had never had an enemy before. She had always been nice, so nice to everyone, and she wasn't used to these feelings burning deep in her belly. She wanted to see Aubrey humbled – not totally humiliated, but knocked down a peg or two. She wanted Aubrey to ask for her forgiveness, to admit that she had been wrong. She wanted Aubrey on her knees, her perfect facade broken, her hair a mess and her make-up running but caring for nothing but whether or not Chloe would be gracious to her…

Chloe skipped her morning lecture that day for a little “me time” alone in her room.

She told herself that the heat rising inside of her had nothing to do with running into Aubrey, or the way she had looked at Chloe with something bordering on astonishment.

 

“Sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, welcome to The Riff-Off!”

Chloe was buzzing with excitement. Four weeks to the day after their initiation, the Riff-Off was the first big event on the Barden acappella calender. This was the chance for all of the choirs to show off their new members and prove that they had come back from the summer fighting.

“Whatever you do, don't fuck this up for us,” the choir leader said as they began.

This was Chloe's moment to shine.

Picking up songs on the fly was tough, but incredibly fun, and after the first couple of knock-out rounds Chloe's pulse was fluttering like hummingbird wings. But the third and final round was the big one: the Bellas versus the Treblemakers, winner takes all.

“And the category is… Songs About Jealousy!”

The Bellas got off to a strong start with The Go-Go's _Our Lips Are Sealed_ , but the Trebletones managed to steal halfway through the second verse, and launched into a rendition of _Jessie's Girl_ that had the crowd whooping.

The rest of the Bellas seemed hesitant, but Chloe had the perfect song in mind. She timedher moment to step forward, readied herself to start singing -

At the last possible moment, she caught sight of Aubrey beside her, stepping forward like she's about to steal too. Chloe knows that she should step back – if they throw each other off it could be disastrous – but fire flares inside her and pours itself into her lungs, ready to be released.

“You know I wish that I -”

“I'm sorry that you seem to be confused,” Chloe sang, with all the fury she had in her heart.

That was when she realised that she wasn't the only one singing.

She turned to Aubrey, and for a moment her shock nearly broke the mood. But then she was back in the moment, and more ready than ever. Time for a good old-fashioned sing-off.

“He belongs to me, that boy is _mine_.”

Chloe threw in a cool little harmony on the last line of the chorus, and Aubrey's brow furrowed. She snatched the first part of the verse away before Chloe had a chance at it.

The whole fell away. Chloe was dimly aware of the Bellas chiming in with an accompaniment, but that was nothing but ornamentation, the watching crowd only a backdrop to this moment. Her and Aubrey up against each other, matching each other note for note.

Aubrey wasn't pulling any punches. She threw in a couple of jazzy little licks, and she was even _dancing_. Three minutes ago Chloe would have sworn that Aubrey couldn't find her hips to save her own life, but apparently she knew how to shake them.

But two could play at that game. On her part of the verse Chloe stepped forward, getting in Aubrey's face. She poured every part of their rivalry into her performance, remembering every slight, every veiled insult, every terrible thought she'd had in the last three weeks, until every word she sang was sharp enough to cut.

They wound up pacing, circling each other as they argued through song, getting closer and closer until finally they were only inches apart as the chorus came crashing into them.

“You need to give it up, I've had about enough -”

Chloe couldn't tear her eyes off of Aubrey.

“He belongs to me, that boy is _mine_.”

It was only the echoing silence that followed that brought Chloe crashing back to earth. They had completed an entire verse and chorus unchallenged. The Riff-Off was over.

Someone in the Treblemakers wolf-whistled. The floodgates opened, and suddenly everyone in the room was cheering.

“What a show!” the announcer declared. “Well, I think we all know who the winners were there… The Barden Bellas!”

Chloe and Aubrey were swept up in a maelstrom of their fellow Bellas, screaming with joy at their victory.

And then – only then – Chloe lost sight of Aubrey, as she disappeared into the crowd.

 

The next time Chloe saw Aubrey up close was a couple of hours – and more than a couple of beers – later. She was making her way back from the bathroom when she found Aubrey sat against the wall, a short distance away from the dancing.

“Hey!” Chloe's smile was automatic, but even when she'd had a moment to reconsider, she couldn't quite bring herself to snub Aubrey tonight. Perhaps it was because they'd brought down the house together, or perhaps their showdown had been cathartic for all that build up negativity – or perhaps she was just too buzzed to be mean.

“Hey Chloe.”

Chloe took that as invitation to sit down.

“So,” she said. “I didn't take you for a Brandy & Monica kind of girl.”

Aubrey laughed. “Of course I am. It's like, the best female duet of all time.”

“I know! And we totally _nailed_ it, right?”

“Yeah,” Aubrey agreed. “As much as I hate to admit it, you – have a good voice. An amazing voice, actually.”

“Well, yeah,” Chloe said. “How else could I keep up with you, Miss Perfect?”

Aubrey looked down. “I'm not perfect.”

“No, no, no.” Chloe put her arm around Aubrey before she even remembered that she shouldn't. Beer always made her touchy-feely. “No being sad. You're awesome, and we were awesome, and this party is awesome and it's because of us!”

“You're drunk,” Aubrey said.

“You're too sober,” Chloe argued. “Why aren't you having fun? We should be celebrating!”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Aubrey leaned in to whisper in Chloe's ear. “I'm not really a party person.”

Chloe burst into giggles, and after a moment, Aubrey joined her.

“Hey!” Chloe said. “You're really pretty when you laugh.”

“Thanks, I think. You're pretty too.”

Chloe beamed.

“So, if you don't like parties, what do you like?” she asked.

“One on one is good,” Aubrey said, leaning in close. “Like this.”

Chloe could feel her heart starting to beat faster. Her arm was still around Aubrey's shoulders, and she could smell the gentle floral scent of her rival's shampoo.

“You know,” she said, suddenly struggling to get the words out right. “I don't think I hate you.”

“Well, thanks,” Aubrey said, but her sarcasm didn't bite as much as usual.

“No,” Chloe protested. “Like, I really don't hate you… Pretty much the opposite of hate, actually.”

Aubrey smiled at her.

“Good,” she said. “Then it'll be much less awkward when I do this.”

Chloe opened her mouth to ask what just as Aubrey kissed her.

It was sweet and careful, like a first kiss should be, but also a little sloppy, like drunk kisses always were – and as seconds passed, and the kiss didn't end, Chloe felt herself melting into it, as though this were a perfect moment that would never end.

It did, of course, but several more kisses followed – faster, hungrier, leaning into each other with eagerness to learn more about the taste of each other's gasping breaths. The familiar fire in Chloe's stomach roared back into life, only now she wanted to see Aubrey ruined in a completely different way.

When they came up for air, both of them were panting. Aubrey's face was beautifully flushed, and her hair was just a little ruffled where Chloe had grabbed a handful of it.

Chloe smiled, and got to her feet.

“Come on,” she said to Aubrey.

“What?” Aubrey asked, confused. “Where?”

Chloe laughed, and pulled her to her feet.

“Come back to my room,” she whispered, then hesitated. “Unless you don't want to?”

Aubrey gripped her hand tight, and flashed Chloe that dazzling smile.

“Lead the way.”


End file.
